New Trustees Elected to Shree Venkatramana Temple
Mangaloretoday News Network
Photo: Prashanth Nayak
Mangalore, July 15, 2018: P. Ramachandra Kamath, C. Laxman Shenoy and K. P. Prashanth Rao have been elected as the new trustees of Shree Venkatramana Temple, Car Street, Mangalore. They will serve a term of five years up to 2023.
Election to the post was held today (15 July) and the electoral process lasted the entire day. As per the election rules announced, nomination of candidates, registration of voters, polling and counting were to take place on the same day. The voter registration counter went open at 8:30 a.m. and all male adults belonging to Gowd Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) community living within Mangalore City Corporation limits were allowed to register as voters by producing proof of identity and proof of residence.
(Photo Lto R): P. Ramachandra Kamath, C. Laxman Shenoy and K. P. Prashanth Rao
Normally the election is sought to be unanimous and polling is done only if there are more than three candidates. This year five candidates had registered. Apart from the three winners Cholpady Upendra Kamath of Nirmala Travels and Keshav Prabhu were the contestants. About 1600 odd voters had registered and elections were held after lunch, between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Voters were required to cast their preferential votes and the results were announced at about 8:00 p.m.
The final tally stood at: P. Ramachandra Kamath (1435 votes), K. P. Prashanth Rao (1335 votes), C. Laxman Shenoy (1221 votes), Cholpady Upendra Kamath (303 votes) and Keshav Prabhu (467 votes).
Of the three winners, the first two are serving as trustees for the first time, while C. L. Shenoy was a trustee previously from 2008 to 2013 and had overseen the renovation project of the temple which was completed in 2012. He had retired as a General Manager of Corporation Bank shortly before becoming a trustee of the temple. P. Ramachandra Kamath along with his brothers runs the Maya Group of Hotels while K. P. Prashanth Rao runs his family concern, Modern Bed House in the city.
A. Amrith Kini, a reputed advocate of the city, had been appointed as the official polling officer by the temple administration. The outgoing trustees are M. Padmanabha Pai, Adige Balakrishna Shenoy and Kochikar Jayaraj Pai.
Today’s election of trustees had caused a lot of suspense during the last week due to the prevailing internal politics within the community. However the election took place peacefully and there were no unpleasant incidents, it is learned. The newly elected trustees offered prayers to the deity after gaining victory.
The system of electing trustees to the temple has been in practice since 1929, following a 1927 district court order